Matthew 17:22-23 - As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Humankind will be betrayed into the hands of people and they will kill him and on the third day, he will be raised." And they were saddened.
Again, they do not ask questions. What does he mean by raised? Did they miss hearing that in their fear over hearing that he was going to die? I'm pretty sure I would have missed that as well.
So, as I was thinking about this this morning, I thought of the Beloved and how God tells everyone that Jesus is the Beloved. And how we include ourselves in that because we too are God's children. Finally, how we tend not to include ourselves in this scenario. No one wants to be under another person's thumb or subject to their whims. No one wants to die at the hands of others. So we - the general we in the West - tend to not include ourselves in this. Yet, we are included in this. This is what it means to take up our cross and follow Jesus. We are to risk our lives, our reputation, our finances, everything.
Why? Because we are not God's only Beloved. All people are beloved of God and when one person is being mistreated, we need to stand up. I confess, I have done this sporadically and poorly. Yet, now, the fate of the world may be in the hands of one person. There is no more time to dawdle, we must protest and speak up and do everything we can think of to mitigate the disaster. That is what it means to follow Christ - to speak up and out for those least able to do so and with those whose lives are at risk.
God grant me courage today.
B
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